Washington’s Headquarters

Washington’s Headquarters served as General Washington's command post and living quarters during the Continental Army’s winter encampment of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. In the third year of the War of American Independence, the army established its winter camp across thousands of acres there during a six-month encampment that became a defining moment in American history, not because of a great battle, but because of the extreme hardship endured that winter and the national resolve that emerged from the experience. Those hardships and that resolve came to symbolize the American spirit and the fight for freedom and self-governance. Inspired by the 1876 centennial celebration in Philadelphia, citizens organized parades, music, and orations on June 19, 1878, to honor the day the Continental Army marched out of Valley Forge, and the Valley Forge Centennial Association dedicated the event’s proceeds to purchasing Washington’s Headquarters and preserving it. Since the late nineteenth century, the memory of Valley Forge has been sustained through the creation of a commemorative park setting and the preservation of key structures, while the original industrial village, wooden huts, and fortifications of the camp have disappeared.

Schuylkill, Pennsylvania · United States